This invention relates to the field of monitoring of treatment of cancer patients with drugs targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway. The monitoring involves mass spectral analysis of blood samples from the patient in conjunction with a classification algorithm using a training set of class-labeled spectra from other patients with the disease.
Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) is a leading cause of death from cancer in both men and women in the United States. There are at least four (4) distinct types of NSCLC, including adenocarcinoma, squamous cell, large cell, and bronchoalveolar carcinoma. Squamous cell (epidermoid) carcinoma of the lung is a microscopic type of cancer most frequently related to smoking. Adenocarcinoma of the lung accounts for over 50% of all lung cancer cases in the U.S. This cancer is more common in women and is still the most frequent type seen in non-smokers. Large cell carcinoma, especially those with neuroendocrine features, is commonly associated with spread of tumors to the brain. When NSCLC enters the blood stream, it can spread to distant sites such as the liver, bones, brain, and other places in the lung.
Treatment of NSCLC has been relatively poor over the years. Chemotherapy, the mainstay treatment of advanced cancers, is only marginally effective, with the exception of localized cancers. While surgery is the most potentially curative therapeutic option for NSCLC, it is not always possible depending on the stage of the cancer.
Recent approaches for developing anti-cancer drugs to treat the NSCLC patient focus on reducing or eliminating the ability for cancer cells to grow and divide. These anti-cancer drugs are used to disrupt the signals to the cells to tell them whether to grow or die. Normally, cell growth is tightly controlled by the signals that the cells receive. In cancer, however, this signaling goes wrong and the cells continue to grow and divide in an uncontrollable fashion, thereby forming a tumor. One of these signaling pathways begins when a chemical in the body, called epidermal growth factor, binds to a receptor that is found on the surface of many cells in the body. The receptor, known as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) sends signals to the cells, through the activation of an enzyme called tyrosine kinase (TK) that is found within the cells. The signals are used to notify cells to grow and divide.
The use of targeted therapies in oncology has opened new opportunities to improve treatment options in advanced stage solid tumors where chemotherapy was previously the only viable option. For example, drugs targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway (including without limitation, Tarceva (erlotinib), Erbitux (cetuximab), Iressa (gefitinib)) have been approved or are in evaluation for treatment of advanced stage solid tumors in particular non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Metro G et al, Rev Recent Clin Trials. 2006 January;1(1):1-13.
While in some trials EGFR-Inhibitors (EGFR-I) such as those mentioned above have been shown to generate sufficient survival benefit even in unselected populations, in others there was no substantial benefit. This lead AstraZeneca to withdraw their EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) (gefitinib, Iressa) from the United States market. Even in the case of approved EGFR-Is it has become more and more clear that efficient and reliable tests are necessary to identify those patients that might benefit from treatment with EGFR-Is vs. those that are not likely to benefit. Ladanyi M, et al., Mod Pathol. 2008 May; 21 Suppl 2:S16-22.
In our U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/396,328 we have shown that a simple serum-based pre-treatment test using mass spectrometry and sophisticated data analysis techniques using a classifier and a training set of class-labeled spectra from other patients with the disease can be used for patient selection for treatment with drugs targeting the EGFR pathway in non-small cell lung cancer patients. See also Taguchi F. et al, JNCI-2007 v99(11), 838-846. The test, called VeriStrat in its commercial version, assigns the label “VeriStrat good” or “VeriStrat poor” to pre-treatment serum or plasma samples. It has been shown in the JNCI paper that “VeriStrat good” patients are more likely to benefit from EGFR-I treatment than VeriStrat poor patients with a hazard ratio of “VeriStrat good” vs. “VeriStrat poor” patients of approximately 0.5.
There is increasing evidence that the tumors of some patients develop resistance to EGFR inhibitors (EGFR-Is) during treatment, even if the treatment was initially successful as measured by RECIST response criteria. Engelman J A, et al. Clin Cancer Res. 2008 May 15;14(10):2895-9. It is unfortunate that currently the only quantitative way to assess tumor growth is by imaging techniques like x-rays or more preferably CT imaging. These are typically scheduled at least one month apart, lead to increases in cumulative radiation dose, and require hospitals visits. Also there is at least some doubt about the correlation of tumor growth measured by CT and eventual outcome measured by overall survival.